Tales from Outer Suburbia: 08/16/12

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan is a collection of short stories about surreal happenings in a suburban neighborhood. The table of contents is done as a series of stamps with their values being the page number that the story starts on.

It's only 96 pages and there are fifteen stories. That comes down to about four pages per story and mostly those pages are Shaun Tan's excellent illustrations. These pictures are done in a variety of styles and media.

There's a story about making your own pet from boxes. Another involving backyard rockets. There's a yak who helps everyone find what they are missing. And so forth.

The overall feel of the book is something along the lines of Thirteen by Remy Charlip and Jerry Joyner. The stories are all somewhat surreal, somewhat silly and, thought provoking.